Carl Hall guest column: Don’t write off Doncaster RLFC!

All I tend to hear on the rugby league grapevine is we’ve ‘over-achieved’ in recent seasons.

It’s all I get whenever I attend an RFL meeting.

The perception out there is still that ‘little Donny’ are punching above their weight.

It’s always the case that Doncaster Rugby League Club are written off - but that suits us. For three years now we’ve been told we’re ‘over-achieving’.

But I don’t buy into any of that. We have got everything that we have deserved.

If you put the hard work in, you get what you deserve. And at Doncaster we’ve made great strides by working very hard to get things right on and off the pitch.

Under Tony Miller, Paul Cooke and myself, we’ve developed a culture here where players give absolutely everything for the cause. They give the same in the 70th or 80th minute, as they do in the first minute.

We have a team that go out there and give their all - so we deserve everything we get at Doncaster.

I keep hearing that we haven’t got the financial clout to mix it with the big boys in the Championship too.

But that’s not the case either.

We’re Club Doncaster now, and we have got it. We’re up there with the best of them in this division.

This club’s in good hands and I’m really optmistic about the future. I speak regularly with Gavin Baldwin, Rovers’ chief executive. about trying to get us to the next level. He’s a top man and whatever level the Dons are playing at, whether that’s the Championship or hopefully one day the Super League, I’m confident the owners will back us.

We’re trying to do it the right way at Doncaster. First and foremost, it’s about being sustainable.

But we know where we want to go and we have a long term plan that will hopefully take us to where we want to be.

It’s an exciting time as we build up to what is a new era in the sport. The re-introduction of promotion and relegation just had to happen - and it’s given everyone involved in the Championship a big lift.

The aim this season is to go as hard as we can and see where that takes us.

Bradford Bulls and London Broncos have come down from the Super League and everyone is talking about them finishing first and second. But this is rugby league - it won’t just happen, those teams need to earn the right.

Nobody will give us a chance but that’s just fine. We’ll just keep on doing our thing.